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By Dawn Star Borchelt
August 6, 2000
When Joyce asked me to join
her this morning for our worship service presentation, she told me
she was hoping that this service would inspire people who’d never
been one to go to the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist
Association.
I wasn’t just inspired to go to my first GA - I was sent. When I was
13, my grandparents wanted to keep me connected to the church, even
though there was no youth group at that time for me to join. So they
sent me off to General Assembly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with our
minister and his family.
I was hooked from the moment I walked into the hall where the
opening ceremony was being held. I was immediately swept up by other
youth and dragged over to the area they had staked out to sit
together. That was it. I knew that I belonged, I knew that these
were my people, my peer group, and I knew that Unitarian
Universalism was mine.
I’ve now been to a total of 5 GA’s, including that one 10 years ago,
and each one has given me something different. Each one has taught
me a new reason why I needed to be there and why you might want to
be there someday, too.
That first GA taught me that you might want to go to GA to find out
that Unitarian Universalism is yours. That this is a religion that
binds you together as one, whole human being with a whole community
of beings.
At my second GA in Calgary, I got involved in Youth Caucus, helping
to choose an issue that was important to teenagers in the US and
Canada and preparing others to speak to that issue on the floor of
the convention. I got involved in planning youth worship for
hundreds of people. I learned that you might want to go to GA to be,
like I was, supported and challenged in your thirst for justice and
your search for the spirit.
Before my third GA, in Fort Worth, Texas, I joined my home church
with the intention of becoming an official delegate, representing my
congregation at the convention. Then the Board of the congregation
decided, against the advice of everyone in the church who had ever
been to GA, that I was too young; that I would be unable to
represent the opinions and positions of this church I had been a
part of since birth; that they would be ‘depriving’ me of my
childhood if they gave me a real and important responsibility. I was
angry and I felt totally betrayed. I went to GA anyway. And I found
out, as you might need to some day, that Unitarian Universalism
could belong to me even when I felt that my local congregation had
failed me.
After college, at my fourth GA in Rochester, New York, I decided to
volunteer for the new Young Adult Caucus as a worship coordinator. I
was overwhelmed. My co-coordinator and I came up with some great
worship services, but we had no time for anything else. Still, that
GA was a time for me to share what I knew and to find out what I
didn’t have - unlimited energy! Someday you might want to go to GA
to share your experiences, skills, or dreams, too.
This year, for my fifth GA, I went with a clear focus on Religious
Education and came home feeling nourished in the work I have chosen
as a religious educator. You may want to go to GA to be nourished in
the work you have chosen, as well - on a committee, around the
building, in the community, or even as an RE teacher.
Maybe someday you will decide to go to GA. I’m sure Joyce will be
mentioning all the lovely cities the convention will be held in over
the next few years [see this page on the UUA site]. But even if you
don’t - maybe you’ll send somebody else, some 13 year old or 16 year
old. Because GA is a terrific way to keep ourselves - and our youth
- connected to our Unitarian Universalist faith tradition.
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